Everyone was quiet as they absorbed all that. Daniel glanced at Eli, who was still staring at the screen. “I have files on Cruz, Ramsay, and Caffrey I am sending to your emails,” Lin said.
“So, let me get this straight,” Jake said. “You have a guy who has never been prosecuted for any criminal offense who owns a storage facility where his manager got prosecuted for distributing child porn, an ex-social worker who also has a clear record. Caffrey’s seven-year-old niece insists that her cousin has deadly abilities which he has shown no evidence of.” Jake stared at both agents. “What aren’t you telling us?”
Jake was right. There had to be another reason.
“One of our agents’ wives is an officer with the airport police at Orlando,” Wright answered. “The airport has an increasing problem with the homeless, and after serving a trespass warning on an eighteen-year-old, the boy told her he had some information if she turned a blind eye.”
“Orlando airport served over three hundred trespass warnings last year,” Finn put in.
Wright looked surprised Finn would know that, but none of the team were. They were used to him knowing all sorts of shit. Airports that were open twenty-four hours a day were a beacon to the homeless.
“What did he say?” Jake prompted.
“He told the cop that he had been sold to ‘the professor,’ but there was a mix-up and a man let three kids escape. He didn’t know what had happened to the other two, but he’d been homeless for a year.”
“Sold?” Jake asked. “How did he know that?”
“Because he understands Portuguese. The man was talking to one of the guards in the truck he was in, and he heard them say the professor wouldn’t be interested in them because they were too old, and more importantly that the ‘anjinho’ or little angel they had picked up yesterday would go to Tampa because ‘here’—meaning Orlando, we assume—was getting too ‘hot.’”
“That’s still not much of a connection,” Jake said doubtfully.
“We know,” Lin agreed, “but the kid told the cop he’d been taken to a storage facility very close to the airport. The way he described it, we’re pretty sure it was one of Caffrey’s. He described the picture of the key that Caffrey has on his logo, and Rafael Cruz comes from Brazil. The only South American country whose main language is Portuguese. He also overheard her say that the professor had some new merchandise and that would be going straight to Tampa. The airport cop had no idea if the information was good, or if the kid was making things up. He’s not an illegal, so she had no grounds for arrest. She asked if he was hungry and if he would come with her while she verified everything. He panicked and ran just as a flight from New York emptied into the terminal. She lost him. That was three days ago, and he hasn’t been seen since, and as we don’t have him, the judge refused a search warrant.”
“Sawyer?” Daniel called to him just as Sawyer was leaving with Adam after Talon called a thirty-minute break. Eli had been the first to leave the room. They both glanced at Daniel.
“I’ll catch you downstairs,” Adam said quietly and closed the door behind him. Everyone else had gone.
“I’m not asking you to break confidences—”
“Good. Because you’d be disappointed.”
Daniel sighed and sat back down. “He was waiting downstairs to put his notice in.”
Sawyer’s eyes widened, and for a second Daniel thought he was going to leave, but then he sat down as well. “And Talon told him about Caffrey.”
“I can find out, but I’d really like to know what I’m up against here.”
Sawyer considered that. “I can’t tell you much more than what’s on record. He’s not big on sharing.”
Daniel returned Sawyer’s wry smile.
“He lived with his mom. No dad listed anywhere, and no other family. One morning she just didn’t wake up. Brain aneurism.”
“Shit.” Daniel couldn’t even imagine. He’d often resented his huge family growing up, but he wouldn’t swap any of them for the world. “How old was he?”
Sawyer seemed to consider. “Seven? Eight maybe? Anyway, he was with Caffrey by the afternoon. It wasn’t a group home, just a regular house. Caffrey was an approved foster parent, I guess.”
“And he burned it down when he was nine?”
Sawyer nodded. “The night he transformed.”
“Do you know what happened?”
“Eli won’t talk about it. I only know it was bad because after we started here our first case was a foster child. His dad was abusing him, and he had gone to a group home where he was bullied. He’d transformed and put four teenagers in the hospital and then tried to kill himself. Gael was happy we managed to save the kid, and Eli just asked him what he’d saved him for? How did Gael know he wasn’t sending him to a worse place?”
Daniel didn’t know how to respond, and for a shameful second, he understood. “What happened afterwards?”
“They locked him up.”
Daniel laughed. Not in humor, but in incredulity. He wanted to ask Sawyer if he was kidding, but he knew he wasn’t. “Where?”
“There used to be a secure hospital just outside of Tallahassee that shut down in 2001 after a ton of complaints.” Daniel nodded. He remembered something about his mom saying it was going to be on some TV show about haunted houses. It had never been pulled down because there was still some dispute over who owned it. “Eli was sent there. He was nine.”
“He—” Daniel was speechless for a moment. “Are you saying that a nine-year-old child was sent to an adult secure psychiatric hospital?” Daniel didn’t think anything could surprise him these days. He was wrong.
Sawyer nodded. “I know he was transferred back to Orlando eventually, but that was still an adult facility. He said he had a tutor but not until at least two years after he first went in.”
“I don’t know what to say.” He’d been angry over the way Vance had been treated at school, and he had the whole family behind him. But Vance’s problems were child’s play to what Eli had gone through.
Sawyer didn’t respond for a moment. “We all have our stories.” Daniel focused on him.
“Oh, no. Nothing like that.” Sawyer raised his hands up in defense. “I was a foster kid, but the home I was in was okay.”
Daniel stared at him for a moment, not completely sure he was telling the truth but unwilling to challenge him. They weren’t partners, and he had his hands full with the one he had. “Why do you think Gregory has put Eli and me together?” It seemed insane to him.
Sawyer shrugged. “He must think you two can make it work.” Daniel’s bewildered look spoke volumes. “Look, I don’t know what else to tell you. I’ve shared two different apartments with Eli for over a year and I know as much about him now as I did the first month. Just…” Sawyer hesitated. “Give him a chance. Gregory hasn’t been wrong yet.”
Sawyer left and Daniel’s phone vibrated in his pocket. It was his mom and she’d texted him.
We’d love it if you came to supper this week. Bring Eli.